As 'American' as a tuition break

By
Al Sartor, Walnut Creek, Calif.

I read with bemusement Maia Werbos’s lamentation that she “read with outrage” statements arguing against giving in-state tuition benefits to “undocumented” immigrants in Maryland. She cited the story of a friend who apparently left the country and became a Canadian citizen because of his parent’s “inability to navigate the immigration system of the United States” [“Taking away immigrant students’ chance to ‘Dream,’ ” letters, Jan. 4].

If the implication is correct that the friend left the country and became a Canadian citizen because, as a noncitizen, he could not get a lower tuition cost, it doesn’t sound as if he “believed in the American system as much as any citizen.” At least, not this citizen.

For those of you willing to read the article that Al referenced in his, you will see that the author's classmate was from China is now at an engineering school there. Think he is the type we might want to keep in this country. We need to get past this notion that all immigrants are just here to collect welfare and commit crimes.